Conventionally, bolt action rifles are manufactured to be operated from the right-hand side. Left-hand operated rifles can be procured only at a premium price, if at all. It is generally recognized among marksmen, especially those who participate in competitive shooting matches, that a distinct advantage inures to the left-handed shooter if he need not remove his rifle from his shoulder to reload it. In this regard, it has become the object of numerous inventors to provide an arrangement whereby a right-hand operated bolt action rifle can be operated from the left side. These arrangements have been largely unsuccessful because they either require extensive modification of the rifle or are unwieldy and require the fabrication of special parts for which there are no replacements.
One such arrangement is described in U.S. Pat. No. 1,886,925. In this arrangement, a handle is attached to the bolt handle of the rifle and extends over the top of the rifle to be operated from the left side. This arrangement suffers from the defects that it interferes with the marksman's line of sight toward the target. It further suffers from the defect that it acts without support, in a cantilever fashion, and exerts undue stress on the rifle bolt handle. Also, the arc within which the extended handle travels is greatly increased over the arc within which the original bolt handle travels, thus causing the marksman to tend to pull the rifle off the target upon reloading.
The invention of the present disclosure, however, overcomes these prior art defects. The present bolt handle adaptor is an inexpensive, straight-forward, easily installed and readily maintained arrangement which allows a right-hand operated rifle to be converted for operation from the left-hand side.